Meadowood Napa Valley history

Vines were first planted in Temecula in 1820.

The perfectly named Jean Louis Vignes opened the first commercial winery in California in 1833.

George Calvert Yount began planting vineyards as far back as 1836 in Northern California.

East of Los Angeles, in Rancho Cucamonga, which is not far from San Bernardino, vines were planted in 1838.

Yount built one of the homesteads in the area and was the first to plant Napa Valley grapes in 1839.

The actual city was initially developed by Nathan Coombs in 1847.

To give you an idea, in 1850, the total production of California wine was close to 30,000 cases.

Charles Kohler and John Frohling started planting in what would soon become Anaheim, California, close to Los Angeles in 1852, creating the Los Angeles Vineyard Society.

In 1856, only 225 acres of Napa were cultivated with vines.

In 1859, Samuel Brannan purchased a large tract of land where he began planting vines, called Agua Caliente Ranch.

By 1860, Haraszthy owned more than 5,000 acres of land.

Charles Krug is credited with establishing Napa Valley's first commercial winery in 1861.

John Lewelling began planting vines in the Napa Valley in 1864.

The now-famous Capella vineyard, also located in St Helena was cultivated in 1869.

Burgess Winery, also on Howell Mountain, was founded in 1870 when Charles M. Burgess bought 137 acres of land.

In 1874, the Sunny St Helena Winery, which has since changed names to Merryvale, was first cultivated by Joseph Ghisletta.

In 1876, Morris Estee founded Hedgeside Vineyards, just off the Silverado Trail.

The insects migrated to Napa starting in 1877 and were in full force just before the turn of the century.

Hamilton Crabb was extremely successful and by 1878, he was one of the largest vineyard landowners in Napa Valley.

The high protectionist tariffs levied against French wine in 1879, (thanks to the lobbying efforts of California wineries) coupled with the small production of European wines, due to the ravages of Phylloxera made California wine more popular than ever.

In 1881 Hamilton Crabb purchased 119 acres from Eliza Yount for $100 per acre, which marked the birth of the To-Kalon vineyard.

In Calistoga, Chateau Montelena was created by Alfred Tubbs in 1882 when he planted 220 acres of land.

The Pagani vineyard was cultivated in 1884.

Winfield S. Keyes was another Howell Mountain pioneer, who began planting vines in 1888.

Producing what was thought of as a true Bordeaux-styled wine, Inglenook became even more popular after the wine won a gold medal at the world’s fair, which was held in Paris in 1889.

Due to the ravages of phylloxera, Hamilton Crabb died broke in 1899.

1904 saw the creation of Beaulieu Vineyards by Georges de Latour.

An even greater threat to the Napa Valley wine industry arrived in 1920 with the enactment of Prohibition.

Caesar Mondavi brought the family in 1923 to the Lodi area, which is where they began to become active in the wine business.

If Prohibition was not bad enough, the great depression of 1929 added even more problems to the California wine industry.

With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Napa Valley's wine industry began its slow recovery.

Tchelistcheff moved to California from France and joined Beaulieu Vineyards in 1938.

In 1944, seven vintners signed the agreement of association that formed the Napa Valley Vintners trade association, now 550 wineries strong.

Martin Stelling also introduced Sauvignon Blanc to the region in 1945.

In 1958, the Mondavi family bought 325 additional acres of the To Kalon vineyard for their Charles Krug winery.

Following in the footsteps of the Mondavi family at Charles Krug, Joseph Heitz founded Heitz Vineyards creating his winery in 1959.

1965 – 232 wineries were active in California.

Credit goes to Heitz Cellars for producing Heitz Martha’s, which was released in 1966.

In fact, until 1967, the production of sweet wine was more popular than dry red wine in the Napa Valley.

In 1968, America’s first agricultural preserve was established here, declaring to the world that agriculture is the highest and best use of the land in Napa Valley.

The first official winery in modern times opened in 1974.

A new chapter in Napa Valley's history was opened in 1981, when the Napa Valley Vintners hosted the first Napa Valley Wine Auction at Meadowood Resort.

Introduction of AVA, American Viticultural Areas: In 1983, in recognition of the uniqueness of the terroirs and soils in the myriad of different vineyard sites, a system of AVA’s, American Viticultural Areas were created.

He founded Abreu Vineyards with purchase in 1986 of the Madrona vineyards.

The California Cult wine phenomena began taking hold in 1992.

The first suit was filed in 2002 By Robert Mondavi against Schrader, who filed a countersuit.

In 2005, 2,275 producers were making wine and today there is close to 4,000 wineries in California!

By 2007, some consumers and a few wineries created a minor backlash against the wines championed by Robert Parker.

That changed in 2010 when the family began producing their own wine.

In 2014, the price from the winery was $750 per bottle.